Velvet outbreak!

[Sharkbait19]

I woke up this morning to the unfortunate surprise that my clowns are dusted with velvet. I don’t think they’re gonna make it, and am really bummed about this. They’re still eating, but have elevated breathing and are swimming very sparatically. Here is a picture of the problem:

I don’t think it’s brook, however, as it is clearly a dusting and not peeling. The pic makes it look like brook, but to the eye it is most certainly velvet.

I need to act fast, and because of an upcoming snowstorm, any new meds I order won’t arrive in time to save them. I have formulated this plan based on what I have, and I am wondering if it is acceptable.

5 min FW dip to alleviate surface trophonts and dinospores. This will immediately be followed by a 30 minute bath in malachite green (via super ich cure) and then they will be put into QT where I will raise copper to a therapeutic level (cupramine). I also have PraziPro but don’t think that would do much on velvet. Ideally, a formalin or acriflavine dip would be the proper option, but I don’t have any medications with either. Is my plan acceptable, or are my fish going to die?

 

[Sharkbait19]

@Humblefish, I know you’re really good with this kind of stuff. Could I get some expert advice?

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

@Jay Hemdal should be able to help.

 

[40g Nano]

So velvet treatment is copper
And won’t touch brook I don’t think

brook treatment is prazipro or formalin, sometimes a lot of fw dips have cured brook

brook is very common on clownfish

link to humble fish’s website

Humble.Fish & Reef Community

A diverse reefing community working together for healthy fish and all things reefing.

humble.fish

 

[Sharkbait19]

So velvet treatment is copper
And won’t touch brook I don’t think

brook treatment is prazipro or formalin, sometimes a lot of fw dips have cured brook

brook is very common on clownfish

link to humble fish’s website

Humble.Fish & Reef Community

A diverse reefing community working together for healthy fish and all things reefing.

humble.fish

Do you think that treating copper and PraziPro would be a good option, if I am unsure what it is? The issue is that brook definitely seems similar to velvet symptom-wise.

 

[40g Nano]

I’m not too sure how to tell the difference between velvet and brook- I’ll have to look into it

I wouldn’t do 2 medications in one qt tank, but maybe do baths in prazipro, and put the fish in a qt tank with copper?
Prazipro says to not use with other medications

 

[Hincapiej4]

Oh for God's sake. Didnt we already go through this? Lol I thought you went fallow and were going to start quarantining things when they came in?

I shake my head at you. Also, copper, copper, copper. As you've been told before, you wanna use meds for this? Copper.

 

[40g Nano]

Scratch what I said
I thought you were talking about rally pro

 

[40g Nano]

What medications do you have on hand?

 

[40g Nano]

Prazipro doesn’t seem like it will treat velvet or brook

 

[40g Nano]

Also @Sharkbait19 you mentioned on Thursday that your fish had something and you were looking for a formalin treatment.

 

[Zionas]

Have you added anything new recently?

 

[40g Nano]

Ruby reef rally pro, not prazipro treats brook

 

[Sharkbait19]

Have you added anything new recently?

The clownfish are new, and also a hammer coral.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Also @Sharkbait19 you mentioned on Thursday that your fish had something and you were looking for a formalin treatment.

I thought they maybe had brook but that fear quickly went away. The issue is I found a few formalin treatments but none that could arrive on time.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Oh for God's sake. Didnt we already go through this? Lol I thought you went fallow and were going to start quarantining things when they came in?

I shake my head at you. Also, copper, copper, copper. As you've been told before, you wanna use meds for this? Copper.

I did fallow, and I did quarantine. What precisely is your point here?
Is there any particular reason to be so harsh to people looking for help? I feel like I find you everywhere in my threads, bashing my aquarium husbandry.

 

[Zionas]

Ouch..... Bummer. Does your LFS keep their fish at low salinity and in copper? If so, it was likely masking the velvet and being taken out of it meant that it resurfaced again.

Other than that I don’t know man. I’m not the expert.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Ouch..... Bummer. Does your LFS keep their fish at low salinity and in copper? If so, it was likely masking the velvet and being taken out of it meant that it resurfaced again.

Other than that I don’t know man. I’m not the expert.

Thanks! The lfs claims that they medicate and quarantine all their new fish and corals, and that these clowns are captive bred. I do not know the validity to this. They didn’t show problems in my QT tank, which does make me believe that somehow there was still some velvet after 90 days fallow, and being captive bred, they’ve never been exposed to disease.

 

[Sharkbait19]

What medications do you have on hand?

I have API super ich cure, Hikari PraziPro, and Seachem Cupramine. To be quite honest, I’ve only recently discovered the importance of specifics in aquarium meds. And I know there are better meds, but as I’ve mentioned, there is a snowstorm keeping me from being able to get any better meds.

 

[Zionas]

However do they mix their captive bred stock with their wild caught stock at all? Or are the systems connected? If so, that’s also a possibility.